Airplane crashes make headlines. Missing airliners get the all-news channels into round-the-clock regurgitation of speculation. Missile-downed airliners throw global diplomacy and the entire air travel industry into turmoil. All this I get. What continues to baffle is the lack of interest in the news that is far better indicator of how particular airlines handle their duty to protect customers. Two stories this week make my point. In his excellent article for Forbes, former NTSB member John Goglia reports on the unfortunate case of a mother traveling on Delta Air Lines who was prohibited from using the FAA approved child-seat she brought with her on the airplane.  Flight… Read More…

It is missing the point to “blame” Malaysia Airlines for its decision to continue to fly over the conflict zone in the Ukraine despite the disastrous outcome of that choice. At the same time, Malaysia and the dozens of others who opted to continue using the route should be asking, what exactly are they paying their security advisors for? Airlines don’t bring hundred+ million dollar airplanes and the highly trained folks who operate them into countries without analysing the security status of the airport and the places where their flight crews will be housed. That’s why the kidnapping of two pilots for Turkish in Beirut… Read More…

The apparent shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 in the Ukraine today is a shocker  for many reasons, not the least of which is that this is a double dose of tragedy for an airline already off-balance over the mysterious disappearance of another jumbo jet in March of this year. It is also deeply troubling to think of air travelers as casualties of geopolitical turbulence. But perhaps it should not be so shocking. Over the past decades, nearly two dozen passenger airliners have been hit by missiles. Among them Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988 hit and destroyed by the U.S. Navy Korean… Read More…

Minutes after Malaysia Flight 370 disappeared from military radar in the early morning hours of March 8, the airplane experienced a total loss of power but recovered, according to information released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The Boeing 777 last seen by a primary radar return at 2:22am (Malaysia time) headed north west along the Malacca Strait, was still flying in that direction when the power loss occurred.  Three minutes later the airplane sent a log-on request to the inmarsat satellite network, meaning its energy supply was back up and running.  Why the jetliner lost power is not known, but the report explains that… Read More…

Infrastructure chief Warren Truss and ATSB chief Martin Dolan Writing from Canberra – Despite saying that I don’t want to be an “I told you so” I am feeling a bit smug about today’s confirmation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau that an unresponsive crew/hypoxia event seemed the “best fit” for the available information on the missing Malaysia Flight 370. The Australians have been asked by the Malaysians to head up the search for the Boeing 777 that went nordo on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8th. The suggestion that hypoxia events have a lot in common with the known facts… Read More…

>The aircraft arriving at LAX in 2013 courtesy Jay Davis The recent release of communication data from missing Malaysia Flight 370, shows the Boeing 777 probably flew for no longer than nine minutes beyond the point at which the plane ran out of fuel. Buried in the 47-page report (warning: heavy on numbers and light on text) is the notation that between 8:10 and 8:19 the morning it disappeared on March 8, the plane lost and then regained power. Fuel exhaustion and engine flameout would cut power to the airplane. The only explanation for what caused it to ramp up again is the deployment of… Read More…

In the Woody Allen movie, Annie Hall, an estranged couple is seen in separate visits to their therapists answering the question; “How often do the two of you have sex?” “Aways,” the woman says, “three times a week.” “Never,” the man says, “three times a week.” When it comes to the way the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board see the question of the “safety” of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner the same flexibility in perception is on display. How well-contained are the risks on the world’s newest wide body airliner? “Very” says the FAA. “Not so much,” says the NTSB. In March,… Read More…

When families of the passengers on Malaysia 370 were notified via text message that those aboard the missing jetliner were likely dead, attention focused on the ham handed-ness of such a notification. “Deep sadness and regret” delivered via cell phone just seems wrong.  There is another significance to this first-ever, intentional digital notification in an air disaster, as pointed out to me last night by the thoughtful and experienced French air accident investigator Olivier Ferrante. So far, it is a crash with no airplane, no bodies, no crash site, no physical evidence, he told me. “It is a virtual crash until a piece of wreckage… Read More…

My previous post on this story here.  When Fox Cable executive Darlene Tipton contacted Sarah Bajc about raising money to compensate her for the loss of her life partner on Malaysian Flight 370, Sarah was less than enthusiastic. The American teacher living in Beijing thought the plan was a scam and wanted nothing to do with it. That hasn’t stopped Tipton and her husband Ken from setting up a gofundme.com account with a goal of raising $22 million using Sarah’s companion Philip Wood as the lure. The campaign is an “‘All or Nothing’ plan,” Tipton writes on the site. “If $22 million dollars is raised in 30 days, the… Read More…